Best For Last
by Anya Kubilus
Summary: Rachel is alone practicing in the auditorium, and who shows up but the infamous Jesse St. James, ready to sweep her off her feet yet again. Based on "Prom" promo.
1. Chapter 1

It was that time again.

Nationals music needed to be selected.

And like before every other competition that New Directions had competed in, Rachel sat for hours in the auditorium and in the choir room, trying new songs and deciding what she should sing for her audition (well, she never really called it an audition, because she always got it anyway).

Rachel had compiled a list of ten songs that she could more than adequately sing at sectionals. She was slowly narrowing down the songs each day, cutting three or four at a time, while Brad, the pianist, sat patiently as she said repeatedly, "Let's try that part again, Brad," or, "From the top!"

Needless to say, she was tired on the third day of her personal rehearsal schedule. On this day she had ten songs spread out on the piano, the notes and lyrics starting to look like nonsense, she was _that _exhausted.

It had been a rough week already, with Prom approaching and her not having a date and all. Rachel had asked almost all the guys she talked to on a regular basis, but getting rejected by Sam the week before, she was starting to look back on her past relationships with Finn and Jesse.

They seemed to be the only two people she had ever connected with—musically especially. And ever since she and Finn had broken up earlier this year, Rachel hadn't had anyone to sing duets with in a while.

It was really hard—she had to admit—trying to find strong feminism songs to sing in front of her fellow show choir members. Especially since almost all of them had dates for prom and only wanted to hear cheery couple music.

But today, Rachel had to focus. The song she had decided to practice was a strong piece, and it needed hard work.

So she snapped her fingers to get Brad's attention and set the sheet music down in front of him. With a final deep breath, she started singing.

She didn't notice Jesse amongst the hundreds of chairs in the auditorium. She didn't know that he had finished his first year at the University of Lost Angeles. She didn't know that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her all during his freshman year. She didn't know that the moment she finished the first two lines that he would join in, as flawless as ever.

_There's a fire starting in my heart,  
>Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark…<em>

Jesse joined in, strutting down the center aisle of seats. He saw the shocked expression on her face, but she stood strong, holding her position in the center of the stage.

_Finally, I can see you crystal clear,  
>Go ahead and sell me out and a I'll lay your shit bare,<br>See how I'll leave with every piece of you,  
>Don't underestimate the things that I will do,<em>

_There's a fire starting in my heart,  
>Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark, <em>

_The scars of your love remind me of us,  
>They keep me thinking that we almost had it all,<br>The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,  
>I can't help feeling…<em>

Rachel stared as he walked up the side stage steps and almost skipped toward her. She had forgotten, in that moment how much she had loved him. How much it hurt when he broke her heart.

But this was Jesse St. James. And it had been _months_ since Rachel had a proper duet partner. She wasn't going to screw up this opportunity.

_We could have had it all,  
>(You're gonna wish you never had met me),<br>Rolling in the deep,  
>(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),<br>You had my heart inside of your hand,  
>(You're gonna wish you never had met me),<br>And you played it to the beat,  
>(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),<br>_

They sang together flawlessly for the rest of the chorus. Rachel had always known that Jesse was her equal when it came to music. Their voices fit perfectly: harmoniously and melodically.

Of course, in the back of her mind, there was this little inkling reminding Rachel of what Jesse had done to her before Regionals last year. Dropping those eggs on her head hadn't exactly made him number one in her book.

But the sight of him still made her heart skip. And when their eyes met, she almost forgot the words to "Rolling in the Deep."

They finished the song together, facing each other at the end. Jesse was breathing heavily, a look of accomplishment and intensity on his face.

Rachel stared at him, "What are you doing here?"

He broke their eye contact by looking to the ceiling for a moment before he answered. "I miss you, Rachel."

A look of doubt shadowed her face. She didn't want to believe it. Rachel would never believe, after how he treated her last year that Jesse was still in love with her.

"Well," she retorted, "I don't miss you! I'm doing great, actually!" She turned around to the piano and started gathering her sheet music before she ended up kissing him. Let's be honest, that's all she was thinking about.

She had gathered all of her music and placed it safely in her bag before she turned to face him once again, and she found him only a foot away from her. "We're going to Nationals this year and I—"

Jesse placed a delicate index finger on her lips and whispered, "Shhh."

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all year, Rachel," Jesse said, staring into her eyes.

Her breathing stopped and her heart wouldn't stop pounding.

"I knew I had to come back. I needed to see if it was still real," he muttered quietly.

And then he kissed her, softly and passionately all at once. Rachel wasn't sure what to believe, or what to think.

He broke away before she could gather her thoughts for an argument.

"I have to go," he said, still staring into her eyes—still making her catch her breath. "But I want to see you."

Despite the fact that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore, Rachel nodded her head.

Jesse smiled before he ran out of the auditorium, leaving Rachel and her confused thoughts in his wake.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so sorry for the delay. I had this written at six yesterday, but the stupid wouldn't upload it. I don't know if I'll be continuing this after tonight, but maybe if I don't like the way the Prom episode works out, then I'll finish it the way I had in mind. Anyway, enjoy.

Oh, and the dialogue at the end was based on a clip I saw yesterday, just an fyi.

**Chapter 2**

Rachel wasn't expecting him to not call her. She still had the same number. She hadn't jumped and moved to _California_. She was the stable one in their relationship (or at least she liked to think that she was). Of course, she envied that Jesse had gotten out of Ohio. At least there was a Broadway in LA and not just a community theater.

She spent the entire next day thinking about Jesse and his new life. His new life without her. She spent all day wondering what he was doing and when he was going to call her. But he didn't. He didn't dial her number, and that was a problem. He was the one who turned her life upside down within three minutes and twenty-five seconds. He was the one who had jumped in when she had started singing Adele. It was all his fault that she was this upset.

It really was.

_Okay, maybe not,_ she thought later. It wasn't really his problem that she had been hooked on him ever since she and Finn had broken up. Rachel just couldn't seem to get it right. She and Jesse had never really gotten over that time when she had done the music video with Finn and Puck. True, she had done it to give herself more of a bad reputation, but that was impossible when she was Mrs. Goody-Two-Shoes with the theater boyfriend who had looks that rivaled James Franco.

It probably didn't help that she dressed like, as Kurt referred to it, a grandmother _and _a toddler at the same time.

But those points aside, she was actually doing okay in her single lady world. But she hadn't been able to stop staring at Finn for a while. Ever since he and Quinn sang that Fleetwood Mac duet together in rehearsal the other day, Rachel hadn't been able to stop thinking about him.

Maybe thoughts of Jesse had slipped in there too, but it had been a total surprise to find out that after that kiss, she still had feelings for him.

Feelings that Jesse apparently shared.

So during every class the next day, Rachel sat with her phone in her lap, waiting patiently for the call or text that could change her life for the time being.

But it didn't come. She was still waiting during Glee Club practice. She was still waiting when she got home. She was still waiting when she went to bed later that night after not finishing her homework.

She had almost given up all hope until Friday. Friday was one of Rachel's favorite days. It was the last day of the school week. It was the best day of the week, in her opinion. It meant that she had two whole days of practicing to look forward to. She always spent her weekends gathering new songs to pitch to Mr. Schue during Glee Club rehearsal.

This Friday, however, she had already decided that her weekend would be spent around the house, mainly in her bed while she cried over another could-have-been relationship.

That was until she got the call.

Rachel hadn't looked at her phone for the entirety of her morning classes—just so she wouldn't get her hopes up. At lunch, she slowly pulled it out of her backpack, hesitating before checking it to see if she had any new messages. Surprisingly, she saw that she had a new voicemail.

She held her phone up to her ear and listened to the message, smiling as soon as she heard Jesse's voice. She was smiling all over. She couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the meal. Everyone at her table asked what she was so happy about, but she couldn't tell them without receiving shocked looks from everyone, so she just shook her head and said, "Nothing."

After school, she headed to the auditorium where he said he would meet her. She walked in and he was already there, standing in the spotlight at the piano, playing cute, short notes in a melody that she didn't recognize.

"Sounds good," she said as she walked up, holding her head high. "What is it?"

He didn't look up from the keys until then. Their eyes met and Rachel's heart skipped a beat. The butterflies in her stomach were driving her crazy. "It's called 'Rachel.' It's something I've been working on for a while, now.

Rachel blushed and looked away as a smile appeared on her face.

Jesse smiled. He always loved complimenting Rachel. He loved making her feel special. That's what she was. She was beautiful and talented. But sometimes, she couldn't see that.

She recovered herself rather quickly and turned back to him and took a deep breath before she asked, "Why are you here, Jesse? I looked it up and I know that your school doesn't get out for another two weeks."

He looked back down at the black and white keys before answering, "I failed out."

Rachel's eyes widened at this news. Jesse explained carefully that because he was majoring in show choir, he felt like he didn't feel the need to go to any of the other classes. "I just assumed that it would be like at Carmel, and the school would get some Asian kid to take math and English and scientific for me."

Rachel shook her head and replied, "That's awful."

"I came back to see you, Rachel. What I did to you, it's my one great regret."

Everything in her body told her that this was a trick. This was a way for Jesse to destroy their glee club yet again. But she couldn't help herself from saying, "Yep. It's kind of weird. One day you telling me you loved me and then you were inexplicably throwing eggs at my head the next." She looked up at him to see his reaction. She wanted him to be embarrassed, but he was Jesse St. James.

He didn't even know what embarrassement was.

"Yeah, I know," he whispered. Then he mumbled something about trading love for a show choir title, but Rachel didn't hear any of it. She was still wondering what was going to happen between them and if any of this was a joke.

"I've come to make amends," he said, sitting up and looking at her again. "What are you doing for prom?"

Rachel's eyes lit up at the suggestion of them going to prom together. A million images flashed in her head of how the night would be with Jesse as her date.

But a million more images came to mind when she pictured the look on Finn's face when she walked into that gym with New Direction's ex-arch enemy.


End file.
